COURSE REQUEST Last Updated: Heysel,Garett Robert 2285 - Status: PENDING 04/15/2015 Term Information Effective Term Autumn 2015 General Information Course Bulletin Listing/Subject Area African American & African Std Fiscal Unit/Academic Org African-Amer & African Studies - D0502 College/Academic Group Arts and Sciences Level/Career Undergraduate Course Number/Catalog 2285 Course Title Afropop: Popular Music and Culture in Contemporary Africa Transcript Abbreviation Afropop Course Description This course focuses on the rich variety, aesthetic beauty, and political significance of popular music in modern African cities. By closely attending to the genres, forms, styles, and social life of African popular music, students will encounter the dynamic soundscape of popular culture in Africa today. Semester Credit Hours/Units Fixed: 3 Offering Information Length Of Course 14 Week Flexibly Scheduled Course Never Does any section of this course have a distance No education component? Grading Basis Letter Grade Repeatable No Course Components Lecture Grade Roster Component Lecture Credit Available by Exam No Admission Condition Course No Off Campus Never Campus of Offering Columbus Prerequisites and Exclusions Prerequisites/Corequisites Exclusions Cross-Listings Cross-Listings Subject/CIP Code Subject/CIP Code 05.0201 Subsidy Level General Studies Course Intended Rank Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior Requirement/Elective Designation 2285 - Page 1 COURSE REQUEST Last Updated: Heysel,Garett Robert 2285 - Status: PENDING 04/15/2015 General Education course: Culture and Ideas; Global Studies (International Issues successors) Course Details Course goals or learning • Using popular music as a means of examining and exploring social life in modern African cities, this course objectives/outcomes addresses significant cultural phenomena and ideas in modern-day Africa. • This course promotes a global conception of urban African social life, using the social practice of popular music to foster a pluralistic understanding of contemporary African institutions, societies, and cultures. • Students will learn to identify musical sounds and structures and differentiate between audition and discussion of recorded examples. Content Topic List • Popular music of: Ghana • Popular music of: Sierra Leone • Popular music of: Nigeria • Popular music of: Mali and Guinea • Popular music of: Congo/Zaire • Popular music of: Angola • Popular music of: South Africa • Popular music of: Zimbabwe • Popular music of: Tanzania and Kenya • Popular music of: Somalia • Popular music of: Egypt • Popular music of: Algeria • Popular music of: Afro-America • Popular music of: Afro-Europe Attachments • GE_AssessmentPlan_AAAS2285_Afropop_Skinner.pdf: Assessment Plan (GEC Course Assessment Plan. Owner: Seagraves,Tanina Ryan) • Afropop_CourseProposal_2014-15_Revised15April2015_v4.pdf: Syllabus (Syllabus. Owner: Seagraves,Tanina Ryan) Comments • Attached revised syllabus and GE assessment plan. (by Seagraves,Tanina Ryan on 04/15/2015 11:16 AM) • No GE assessment plan please refer to operations manual p.33-34. Also F is not a valid grade it should be E. (by Heysel,Garett Robert on 12/24/2014 10:07 AM) 2285 - Page 2 COURSE REQUEST Last Updated: Heysel,Garett Robert 2285 - Status: PENDING 04/15/2015 Workflow Information Status User(s) Date/Time Step Submitted Seagraves,Tanina Ryan 12/19/2014 12:53 PM Submitted for Approval Approved Seagraves,Tanina Ryan 12/19/2014 12:54 PM Unit Approval Revision Requested Heysel,Garett Robert 12/24/2014 10:07 AM College Approval Submitted Seagraves,Tanina Ryan 04/15/2015 11:16 AM Submitted for Approval Approved Seagraves,Tanina Ryan 04/15/2015 11:19 AM Unit Approval Approved Heysel,Garett Robert 04/15/2015 10:47 PM College Approval Nolen,Dawn Vankeerbergen,Bernadet Pending Approval te Chantal 04/15/2015 10:47 PM ASCCAO Approval Hanlin,Deborah Kay Jenkins,Mary Ellen Bigler Hogle,Danielle Nicole 2285 - Page 3 Course Proposal December 2014 The Ohio State University Department of African American and African Studies Afropop: Popular Music and Culture in Contemporary Africa AAAS 2285 (3 Credit Hours) GE: Cultures and Ideas, Diversity (Global Studies) Date/Time: TBA Location: TBA Instructor: Dr. Ryan Skinner Office: Hughes Hall 101c Email: [email protected] Phone: (614) 292-9441 Office Hours: TBA COURSE DESCRIPTION This course focuses on the rich variety, aesthetic beauty, and political significance of popular music in modern African cities. By closely attending to the genres, forms, styles, and social life of African popular music, students will encounter the dynamic soundscape of popular culture in Africa today. By calling this culture “popular,” this class takes seriously the youth-driven social and aesthetic trends cultivated in cities within particular contexts of labor, politics, leisure, ritual, and consumer capitalism. The “urbanity” of this culture will take us to a variety of urban contexts—from mining towns to cosmopolitan city centers, from nightclub performances to state-sponsored cultural festivals, and from street-side ceremonies to cyber cafés—in cities across the continent—from Algiers to Johannesburg, and from Dakar to Dar es Salaam. Listening closely to the extraordinary sounds of this popular culture will allow students to better understand and appreciate one of the world’s most prodigious cultural resources: the modern music of urban Africa. Musical genres this class will consider, include: Ghanaian highlife, North African raï, South African township music, East African taarab, Congolese rumba, Nigerian jùjú, West African praise music, protest songs in Zimbabwe and Egypt, and diasporic fusions in Belgium, Sweden, and New York, among many others. Over the course of the semester, as we listen in to these sounds and study their social contexts, students will discover the cultural commonalities and stylistic differences that make African popular music a coherent and dynamic topic of study. COURSE EXPECTATIONS AND OBJECTIVES Taking the cities of the African continent and its modern diasporas as geographical points of reference, we work from the premise that African popular music encompasses a wide variety of complex musical forms and styles. Students will learn to identify musical sounds and structures and differentiate between genres through in-depth 1 Course Proposal December 2014 audition and discussion of recorded examples. To this end, students will keep a weekly listening journal, developing critical listening skills through regular and thoughtful writing. Outside of class, students will listen to selected programs from the nationally syndicated public radio program, Afropop Worldwide (http://www.afropop.org/). The content of these programs will be taken up in class discussions and will appear on in- class examinations. Finally, students will be asked to attend a local live music event featuring African and/or African-derived music and write a 5-7 page report based on their experience. While we will discuss aspects of musical structure and composition, no prior study of music is required for this course. GENERAL EDUCATION (GE) GOALS AND EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES 1. Cultures and Ideas Goals: Students evaluate significant cultural phenomena and ideas in order to develop capacities for aesthetic and historical response and judgment; and interpretation and evaluation. Expected Learning Outcomes: 1. Students analyze and interpret major forms of human thought, culture, and expression. 2. Students evaluate how ideas influence the character of human beliefs, the perception of reality, and the norms which guide human behavior. Using popular music as a means of examining and exploring social life in modern African cities, this course addresses significant cultural phenomena and ideas in modern-day Africa, which students will learn to understand, evaluate, and interpret through regular and thoughtful reading, listening, and discussion. 2. Diversity Goals: Students understand the pluralistic nature of institutions, society, and culture in the United States and across the world in order to become educated, productive, and principled citizens. Expected Learning Outcomes: Global Studies 1. Students understand some of the political, economic, cultural, physical, social, and philosophical aspects of one or more of the world's nations, peoples and cultures outside the U.S. 2. Students recognize the role of national and international diversity in shaping their own attitudes and values as global citizens. 2 Course Proposal December 2014 This course promotes a global conception of urban African social life, using the social practice of popular music to foster a pluralistic understanding of contemporary African institutions, societies, and cultures. ASSIGNMENTS There will be five in-class examinations during the semester, four quizzes (two before the midterm, and two after the midterm) and a midterm exam (week seven). Reading assignments should be completed at home before the Wednesday class session of each week. There are two types of writing assignments in this class: a weekly listening journal, and a final concert report. They are described as follows: 1. On Wednesday of each week, students will upload a short listening journal entry (1-2 paragraphs in length, no more) to the appropriate dropbox folder on Carmen. These entries should reflect on the week’s listening examples in relation to the assigned readings and class discussion. Students are encouraged to comment on aspects of musical style, form, lyrics, or (in the case of music videos),